Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
Shri Shyam Industries Pvt. Ltd vs Union Of India & Ors on 24 February, 2022
24-02-2022 IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
Item No.39 Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction
(p.b.) Appellate Side
WPA No.3046 of 2022
Shri Shyam Industries Pvt. Ltd.
-vs-
Union of India & Ors.
With
WPA Nos. 12953/2021, 20414/2021
Mr. Avra Mazumder,
Mr. Sk. Md. B. Hossain,
Mr. Binayak Gupta.
...for the petitioner
Mr. Subhodip Roychowdhury. .....for the respondent
Heard Learned Counsels appearing for the petitioner.
In view of involvement of common question of law and
similarity of facts in all these Writ Petitions, with the
consent of the parties all these Writ Petitions have been
heard together and are being decided by the present
common judgment and order.
Common facts and issues involved in all these Writ
Petitions as appear on perusal of relevant record and upon
considering the submissions of the parties are that the
petitioners are aggrieved by the issuance of impugned
notices under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 on
the ground that the same are barred by limitation and the
respondent Income Tax Authority concerned, before issuing
the impugned notices under Section 148 of the Income Tax
Act, have not observed the statutory formalities under
Section 148 A of the Income Tax Act as prescribed by the
Finance Act, 2021 which are applicable with effect from 1st
April, 2021 before issuance of notices under Section 148 of
the Act on or after 1st April, 2021.
Issues arising in all the present Writ Petitions are
purely legal and in all these Writ Petitions the
assessees/petitioners have sought relief of quashing of the
impugned re-assessment notices issued post 31st March,
2021 by the respondent Income Tax Authority concerned
under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act,
assessees/petitioners have also sought relief by way of a
declaration declaring Explanations A(a)(ii)/A(b) to the
Notification No. 20 [S.O. 1432 (E) dated 31st March, 2021
and Notification No. 38 [S.O.1703 (E)] dated 27th April, 2021
to the extent that the same extend the applicability of the
"provisions of Section 148, Section 149 and Section 151 of
the Act, as the case may be, as they stood as on the 31st
March, 2021, before the commencement of the Finance Act,
2021" to the period beyond 31st March, 2021 as ultra vires
the parent legislation, viz., The Taxation and Other Laws
(Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act,
2020 (hereinafter referred to as ' Relaxation Act, 2020').
At the outset, all the counsels appearing for the parties
jointly submitted that the issues involved in these Writ
Petitions are covered by the decision of the Division Bench
of the Allahabad High Court dated 30th September, 2021 in
the case of 'Ashok Kumar Agarwal -vs- Union of India
through its Revenue Secretary North Block & Ors.' (Writ Tax
No. 524/2021) decided in favour of assessees/petitioners
on 30.09.2021 and order of Rajasthan High Court dated
25th November, 2021 in the case of Bpip Infra Private
Limited -vs.- Income Tax Officer, Ward 4 (1), Jaipur (S. B.
Civil Writ Petition No.13297/2021) and the order of Delhi
High Court 15th December, 2021 in the case of Man Mohan
Kohli -vs- Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax & Anr. in
(W.P. (C) 6176 of 2021) and judgment and order of this
Court dated 17th January, 2022 in the case of Manoj Jain
Vs. Union of India & Ors. in WPA No.11950 of 2021 and in
the case of Bagaria Properties and Investment Private
Limited & Anr. in WPO 244 of 2021.
In view of judgments and orders of this Court dated
17th January, 2022 in the case of Manoj Jain Vs. Union of
India & Ors. in WPA No.11950 of 2021 and in the case of
Bagaria Properties and Investment Private Limited & Anr. in
WPO 244 of 2021, all these writ petitions herein are
disposed of by allowing the same. Explanations A(a)(ii)/A(b)
to the Notifications dated 31st March, 2021 and 27th April,
2021 are declared to be ultra vires the Relaxation Act, 2020
and are therefore bad in law and null and void. All the
impugned notices under Section 148 of the Income Tax Act
are quashed with liberty to the Assessing Officers
concerned to initiate fresh re-assessment proceedings in
accordance with the relevant provisions of the Act as
amended by Finance Act, 2021 and after making
compliance of the formalities as required by the law.
Urgent certified photo copy of this judgment, if applied
for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance with all
requisite formalities.
[Md. Nizamuddin, J]
